“Eleven Minutes” by Paulo Coelho – Redemption of the Heart

Eleven Minutes is considered by most people as being Paulo Coelho’s most controversial piece of writing, mainly because it is centered on a rather unusual type of protagonist, a young prostitute.

While many people may have unsavory opinions of them, it is important to understand that many of them haven’t gotten into their lifestyle by their own choice… many are forced into it either by circumstances, or worse, people.

In any case, this is pretty much the kind of character we are presented wit here, with Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village who had her heart shattered time and time again as a young girl. One day, she meets a Swedish stranger, and after he promises her fame and fortune, she leaves with him for Geneva.

Needless to say, Maria’s adventures went far from how she expected them to; she became a dancer at a restaurant. Eventually, Maria manages to become a high-class prostitute. However, this novel is about much more than simply telling the coming-of-age story of a young girl with an unfortunate life.

Paulo Coelho takes it much deeper as we are treated to rather philosophical diary excerpts from Maria’s diary. I won’t go into too much detail about them, but in the end it felt as if the book became an exploration of the nature of love and sexuality.

First of all, when I was reading this book I didn't really have an opinion one way or the other about the main character’s line of work. The way I see it, different people have different lives which lead them to different places, and it just so happens her life was led in an unfavorable direction. Perhaps this contributed to me not being completely able to care about what Maria went through.

However, what kept me going where the diary entries where Maria explores the baser human instincts which pretty much drive us to live on day after day and keep on going even through the darkest of times: love, passion, and sexual desire.

From what I understood, it seems that Paulo Coelho believes that one of humanity’s greatest mistakes was to willingly separate sex from love, and he makes a pretty good case for it with his novel. Whether or not he is right about it is only for you to judge.

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Paulo Coelho Personal site Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist and lyricist, sometimes known by the name of Paul Rabbit. His unusual and deeply-moving novels have made of him one of the most widely-read authors today, earning him an array of international awards, including the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. His most famous novel, The Alchemist, has been translated in over 67 languages to date.